Dear Rusty: My husband and I were only married 5 years before he passed away from cancer. I am 61 and was told by SS that I don’t qualify to receive his survivor benefits because we weren’t married long enough, and because I made more money than him when he was alive. I still work fulltime and plan to continue until my full retirement age. Am I able to collect any of his benefits? Why can his daughter collect his benefits, but I cannot? Signed: Frustrated Widow
Dear Frustrated: You were given partially incorrect information by Social Security because you were married long enough to collect a survivor benefit, but there are also other rules which might affect your eligibility:
• You cannot have remarried before age 60 and be currently married.
• You cannot collect full survivor benefits if you exceed Social Security’s annual “earnings limit.” That you made more money than your husband (and are presumably entitled to a higher personal SS benefit) isn’t material, but your earnings from work could be.
If you didn’t remarry before age 60 and remain married, and if you don’t earn too much money, you are eligible to collect a survivor benefit as your husband’s widow. You can even claim your survivor benefit (only) while allowing your personal SS benefit to grow (if desired, up to age 70 when it reaches maximum). So, you may be eligible to collect a survivor benefit from your husband now, but if you’re working full time, you may make too much money to be able to collect it at this time.
Social Security has an “earnings test” which applies to those collecting early benefits and which limits how much you can earn before they take benefits away. For 2021, the annual earnings limit is $18,960 and if you earn more than that they will take away benefits equal to $1 for every $2 you are over the limit. That could mean you’ll owe them more than you’re entitled to in benefits, which would mean no benefits would be paid. Here’s an example: Say you make $60,000 per year working full time. If you collect the survivor benefit and because you haven’t yet reached your full retirement age (FRA), you’ll be subject to the earnings limit of $18,960. At this earnings level you would exceed the limit by about $41,000. Half of that amount would be about $20,500, and SS would require ...
